blacksaint

New Orleans Saints

Challenge No. 1: Prepare Marques Colston to be the No. 1 receiver.

Colston led the Saints with over 1,000 receiving yards last season. His performance as a rookie was so impressive that the Saints released Joe Horn and made the second-year receiver out of Hofstra the unquestioned top receiver. Not every wideout is able to make the jump from complementary player to star, but Colston appears to be ready for the challenge. The Saints need to help him realize that now that teams know more about him, he'll face the challenge of getting open versus coverages designed to slow him down and will be matched against the opposition's top cover man all over the field.

Challenge No. 2: Make the offense even more explosive.

The Saints finished second in the NFL in total offense last season, but could stand to be even more dangerous this year. Drew Brees leads an attack that features dynamic playmakers in Colston, Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister and Devery Henderson. Add this season's offseason pickups, Eric Johnson and Robert Meachem, and the Saints are as loaded as any team at the skill positions. Sean Payton needs to use the preseason games to tinker with his play-calling to make sure he has a good feel for each of his playmakers' strengths and to adjust the game plan accordingly.

Challenge No. 3: Use preseason competition to make the defense better.

The Saints aggressively signed several defensive free agents during the offseason, but gave them few assurances of starting roles. Brian Simmons, Kevin Kaesviharn and Dhani Jones will all compete for time despite having successful careers elsewhere. By letting these free agents battle with incumbents for the starting jobs, the Saints have created healthy competition. With so many jobs on the line, expect to see their defense play with more focus and intensity during the preseason.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...uth/index.html

saint4life
(504)

TheDeuce

I understand a lot of the talk about whether or not Colston is going to be able to handle the #1 WR role because there are a lot of guys who go into that sophomore slump (the most obvious to me is probably Michael Clayton). But there are a couple of things that make me think that he isn't just a fluke:

1. He was actually our #1 WR for most of last season anyways, so it's not like he was going up against teams' #2 CB and now he's got to go against better competition; he's already faced the best.
2. He has the best quarterback in the NFC throwing him the ball, so he's going to get it.

However, even if he doesn't quite produce as much as he did last season, I'm looking for these Saints to give Deuce the damn ball more. Mix in a little Reggie, and that's almost impossible to stop.

ScottyRo

This guy is getting paid to write this stuff? Where's my check?

#1: Colston was the #1 guy last year as Horn was injured for most games - especially down the stretch.

#2: This is his only valid point. We don't need to sit back and rest with last year's best offense. We need to keep progressing and getting better.

#3: What the heck is training camp for if not to do this? You use preseason and training camp competition to make the team better. DUH!

saintsrule

I don't think Payton uses WRs as #1, #2, or #3; he seems to go by matchups. If Devery, Copper, or whoever matches up best against a teams player, then he goes with it.